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For many years the only mobile devices that had decent battery life were based on ARM chips. But this is no longer the case--no matter what you might read or hear. ARM's monopoly on long battery life is coming to an end.
August 17, 2012
Is Microsoft perpetuating the myth that ARM architecture processors have an unparalleled battery life advantage over Intel processors?
That would seem to be the case Friday judging from aggregated news reports on Techmeme discussing the latest Windows 8 and RT blog from Steven Sinofsky. Many reported that only Windows RT running on ARM will be able to run for weeks on a single battery charge while connected to the network in a mode called connected standby. My BYTE article was one of the few accurate stories pointing out that the new long battery life capability is on both ARM and Intel devices. MSNBC even quoted me--but continued to report that only RT will have connected standby. Sinofsky seemed to have started the ARM-only connected standby misconception back in a February blog post. To be clear, Sinofsky briefly mentioned in both of his posts that Intel SoC devices will support connected standby, too, but that point was easy to miss. All the details focused on Windows RT capability, which is what the press has largely picked up in the last six months. Microsoft seems to have little desire to clarify this confusion. That's because the only perceived advantage of Windows RT on ARM over Windows 8 on Intel is the myth that only ARM devices are power efficient enough to run all day. Once you debunk this perceived battery life advantage of Windows RT, all you're left with are its serious limitations. Windows RT won't run the vast ecosystem of Windows applications or PC hardware peripherals. Even Microsoft Office 2013 for Windows RT won't have full compatibility with Office because it's missing features such as macro support. These are among the reasons why Windows RT products including Microsoft Surface tablets are doomed to fail. ARM won't dominate mobile much longer ARM proponents have long argued that Intel couldn't possibly build a power-efficient processor because of the extra silicon Intel has to commit to x86 legacy overhead. Industry expert David Kanter of RealWorldTech explained to me that this isn't much of an issue because the legacy silicon is a very small fraction of total system power draw and it's nullified with Intel's more advanced chip fabrication process. Yet the widespread notion of ARM superiority in mobile persists because Intel had never produced very low power processors used in smartphones in the past and only launched its first Medfield x86 SoC for smartphones earlier this year. Even when BYTE reported in June that Windows 8 running Intel Clover Trail x86 SoC will have always-on and all-day battery life, I was often met with skepticism and criticism that I had fallen for marketing hype. Critics ignore the fact that Intel Medfield x86 SoC has already been independently benchmarked by Anandtech, and Clover Trail is essentially a dual-core version of the single-core Medfield processor with beefed up graphics with Windows DirectX capability. Intel's roadmaps have been accurate in the past and were trusted enough for Apple to switch its entire product line to Intel processors despite the lack of publicly available benchmarks. The evidence points to very competitive battery performance in Intel SoC products running Windows 8. The only difference between ARM and Intel is that all ARM systems will support connected standby, but only the SoC versions of Intel hardware will support connected standby. Desktops, notebooks, netbooks, and ultrabooks using Intel Ivy Bridge or Intel Atom Cedar Trail or any older Intel chips will not support connected standby. However, Intel soon will vastly improve connected standby support; in 2013 it launches Haswell, its first SoC processor designed for mainstream high-performance desktops and notebooks. As for x86/x64 systems from AMD, there is no word when AMD will support connected standby. How Windows Phone 8 and Windows RT could thrive Although the Windows App store is small today, a successful Windows 8-on-Intel launch could mean a bright future for Microsoft's store. That translates to good news for Windows Phone 8 and Windows RT on ARM-based smartphones and tablets because those apps can easily be made to run on everything from Intel desktops and notebooks to smartphones or tablets running on ARM. If Microsoft's app store succeeds, Windows on ARM stands a much better chance. But this hinges on a successful Windows 8 on Intel launch and that's where Microsoft might be getting ahead of itself. There are 20 companies building fully capable Windows 8-on-Intel SoC devices. There are only four companies building limited-capability Windows RT-on-ARM devices so far. Yet Microsoft is heaping praise on Windows RT. HP, Acer, and Toshiba recently dropped out of the Windows RT race and they weren't happy with Microsoft's surprise entrance into the hardware business. It seems that in Microsoft's haste to push alternative CPU architectures and possibly go it alone in hardware development, it risks diverting attention from Windows 8 on Intel SoC, which is its best chance for success. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said that Microsoft didn't leave any stone unturned when it built Surface, but some stones might be better off left alone for now.
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The college diversity racket is immune to economic downturns. Harvard University has announced its latest diversity dean for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Any rational budget analyst would mark this deanship for the ax, since it overlaps with the senior vice provost for faculty development and diversity—and with the cochairpersonships of the Standing Committee on Women. Yet it would appear that no financial meltdown, no matter how great, can shake academia's manic and irrational pursuit of a creature as imaginary as a unicorn: an even remotely qualified faculty made up of proportional numbers of blacks, Hispanics, and women.
Back in 2005, then-president Larry Summers inflated Harvard's already bloated diversity bureaucracy in penance for suggesting, in the spirit of open academic debate, that the distribution of high-end math skills in men and women could at least partly explain male dominance in the hard sciences. That recklessly truthful comment ultimately cost Summers his presidency, but not before he bootlessly tried to placate the diversity machine by creating a diversity sinecure—the senior vice provost for faculty development and diversity—and committing $50 million to a fanatical search for a racially and sexually proportional faculty.
Now, Harvard president Drew Gilpin Faust and dean Michael D. Smith have appointed sociology and African-American studies professor Michele Lamont the Faculty of Arts and Sciences' diversity dean. Lamont—an "expert on the dynamics of social exclusion in France and the United States," the Harvard Crimson says—will also chair yet another new diversity committee. But please don't confuse the diversity dean for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences with the senior vice provost for faculty development and diversity. They are not the same, though how they differ is a mystery beyond ordinary human ken. The diversity provost just published a report comparing the percentage of minority and female professors at Harvard and other universities; the new diversity dean will use this latest report to browbeat departments for their lack of diversity, which the diversity provost does as well.
Not daunted by the superfluity of her role, Lamont plans to "research what other universities are doing on the diversity front," the Crimson reports, something that the senior vice provost for faculty development and diversity also does. The answer, no matter who's asking, is simple. For the last 30 years, Harvard and its peers have pledged repeatedly to find the Holy Grail of perfect diversity. They have remained deliberately blind to the fact that the critical precondition to attaining diversity—a sufficient number of qualified minority Ph.D.s across the academy and of female Ph.D.s in the hard sciences—is not in place. They have desperately searched the horizon for a miraculous, undiscovered trove of qualified "diversity" candidates, and lowered hiring standards when they have failed to discover it. And, of course, they have obsessively produced comparative diversity studies for years, as if running the numbers would magically produce candidates who don't exist.
If ever there were a time to reconsider this futile quest, now would be it. Harvard lost at least $8 billion from its endowment—or 22 percent—between the end of June and early December. The university has put a freeze on faculty salaries, searches, and promotions. In a November 10 letter to the Harvard community, President Faust called for "greater financial discipline" and said that "tradeoffs and hard choices" could no longer be put off. Well, getting rid of Harvard's duplicative diversity apparatus wouldn't even be a "hard choice." When one is cutting budgets, the most obvious items to target are those that don't accomplish anything. The diversity racket fits that description to a tee.
Lamont is already up to speed in the three essential qualifications of a diversity bureaucrat: pretending that the sinecure requires special expertise, repeating the same tired bromides that have been endlessly regurgitated for years, and ignoring reality. "I'm basically using my knowledge to advise [Dean Smith] and to educate the Faculty," she told the Crimson. And in what arcane science will she be "educating" the faculty? In the agonizingly trite and wholly unjustified assertion that "diversity and excellence are not opposites—they're additive."
On the reality front, the fact that faculty searches and promotions have been frozen would seem to preclude "diversity" hires and promotions. Not to a diversity dean, however. Lamont says that she sees "opportunity" in the financial crisis. Departments will be able to focus more on diversity issues, Lamont said, according to the Crimson. Believing that departments can make diversity hires during a hiring freeze is no more irrational than believing that a department can achieve racial proportionality when the number of black and Hispanic Ph.D.s in substantive fields barely registers.
Lamont's expertise in the "dynamics of social exclusion" will no doubt sharpen her eyes to the exceedingly subtle ways that Harvard excludes blacks and minorities. Someone without the special insights of a diversity dean might find such a claim of exclusion inconsistent with Harvard's having poured millions of dollars into finding and promoting minorities and women. Too bad Harvard can't direct just as much energy to scoping out waste. Somewhere within that massive university, vital scholarship and scientific research takes place. While such research may be jeopardized by the current financial crisis, it's all the more at risk from Harvard's foolish conformity to diversity nonsense.

subset: commoncrawl


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As I Lay Dying Members Individually Post Audio Snippets of New Music
Things have been understandably quiet for As I Lay Dying since the arrest and court drama of the band's frontman Tim Lambesis on murder-for-hire charges. But it looks like the group is about to finally put the events of the past year behind them and move forward.
While the group's website and social media accounts have remained inactive since 2013, each of the band members individually have posted snippets of new music on each of the individual social networking accounts.
What does this mean for the future of As I Lay Dying? That remains to be seen, as so far only the audio and video with no other commentary has been revealed. Plus, with Lambesis recently pleading guilty and a lengthy jail term ahead, it would be expected that the band would find a way to move forward without him. While there is no confirmation on exactly who is handling the vocals for the project, many are suggesting that bassist Josh Gilbert has stepped up to take on the task.
A closer look at the videos also reveal a few more details. In Nick Hipa's video, the background is the recording board and it has a few titles that are being removed one-by-one. They include 'Cauterize,' 'Paralyzed,' 'Anodyne' and 'Defender.' In addition, the Jordan Mancino and Josh Gilbert clips appear to be snippets of the same song, but different parts. In Mancino's video, we also get one of the clearest shots of a musician in their element as the drummer is clearly laying down his part in a studio. Sgrosso's also shows him laying down some guitar, though his face is not as clearly visible as Mancino's.
Check out the postings from Nick Hipa, Phil Sgrosso, Jordan Mancino and Josh Gilbert below:
Nick Hipa
Phil Sgrosso
Jordan Mancino
Josh Gilbert
It should be noted that since there was no update on As I Lay Dying's pages and these came from the band's individual members, this could signify the beginning of a new group under a different name. Stay tuned to see how it all plays out.


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General Information
Aptheker, Herbert. Abolitionism, A Revolutionary Movement. Boston: G.K. Hall & Co., 1989.
Bennett, Lerone. Before the Mayflower: A Brief History of Black America. Chicago: Johnson Publishing Company, 1982.
Berlin, Ira. Many Thousands Gone: The First Two Centuries of Slavery in North America. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1998.
Blockson, Charles. Hippocrene Guide to the Underground Railroad. New York: Hippocrene Books, 1994.
Blockson, Charles. Underground Railroad, First Person Narratives of Escapes to Freedom in the North. New York: Prentice Hall, 1987.
Blockson, Charles. The Underground Railroad: Dramatic First Hand Accounts of Daring Escapes to Freedom. New York: Prentice Hall 1987.
Bracey, John H. Blacks in the Abolitionist Movement. Belmont, California: Wadsworth Pub. Co., 1971.
Bradford, Sarah. Harriet Tubman: The Moses of Her People, 1869. Reprint Glouster, MA: Peter Smith, 1981.
Douglass, Frederick. Escape From Slavery: The Boyhood of Frederick Douglass in His Own Words. New York: Knopf, 1994.
Douglass, Frederick. The Mind and Heart of Frederick Douglass. New York: Thomas Y. Cromwell, 1968.
Drew, Benjamin. A North-Side View of Slavery. 1856. Reprint, New York: Johnson Reprint Corporation, 1968.
Ericson, David F. The Debate Over Slavery: Antislavery and Proslavery Liberalism In Antebellum America. New York: New York University Press, 2000.
Finkelman, Paul, Ed. Slavery and the Law. Madison, WI: Madison House Publishers, 1997.
Gara, Larry. Liberty Line: The Legend of the Underground Railroad. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1996.
Gutman, Herbert G. The Black Family in Slavery and Freedom 1750-1925. New York: Vintage Books, a Division of Random House, 1976.
Harold, Stanley. The Abolitionists and the South, 1831-1861. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1995.
Hornsby, Alton, Jr. Chronology of African-American History. Significant Events and People from 1619 to the Present. Detroit: Gale Research, Inc., 1991.
Jacobs, Harriet. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl: Written by Herself. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1987.
National Park Service. Underground Railroad Resources in the United States. Washington, D.C.: Department of the Interior, 1998.
National Park Service. Exploring a Common Past: Researching and Interpreting the Underground Railroad. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Interior, 1998.
National Park Service. Underground Railroad Special Resource Study. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Interior, 1995.
National Park Service. Underground Railroad, Official Map and Guide. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Interior, 1996.
Parker, John. His Promised Land: The Autobiography of John P. Parker, Former Slave and Conductor on the Underground Railroad. New York: W. Norton & Co, 1996.
Still, William. The Underground Railroad: a Record of Facts, Authentic Narratives, Letters, etc. Philadelphia: Porter & Coates, 1872.
Tobin, Jacqueline & Dobard, Raymond G., Hidden In Plain View: A Secret Story of Quilts and the UGRR. New York: Doubleday, 1999.
Indiana Resources
Baker, Ronald. Homeless, Friendless and Penniless: The WPA interviews with Former Slaves Living in Indiana. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2000.
Brown, Maxine. The Role of Free Blacks in the Underground Railroad Activities of Central Indiana. Indianapolis: DNR-DHPA, 2001.
Cockrum, Col. William. History of the Underground Railroad, As it Was Conducted by the Anti-Slavery League. New York: Negro Universities Press, 1915.
Coffin, Levi. Reminiscences of Levi Coffin. 1876. Reprint, New York: Arno Press, 1968.
Coomer, Mark. Concerning Underground Railroad Activity in Southwestern Indiana. Indianapolis. Indianapolis: DNR-DHPA, 2001.
Coon, Diane P. Southeastern Indiana's Underground Railroad Routes and Operations. Indianapolis: DNR-DHPA, 2001.
Cord, Xenia. Black Rural Settlements in Indiana Before 1860. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society, 1993.
Crenshaw, Gwendolyn. Bury me in a Free Land: The Abolitionist Movement in Indiana: 1816-1865. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Bureau, 1993.
Finkelman, Paul. Ed. Slavery and the Law. Madison, WI: Madison House Publishers, 1997.
Freetown Village, Eds. Interpretive Stories Associated with the Underground Railroad in the Indianapolis Area. Indianapolis: DNR-DHPA, 2001.
Furlong, Patrick J. The South Bed Fugitive Slave Case. We the People: Indiana and the United States Constitution. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society, 1987.
Goodall, Hurley C. Voices from the past: a collection of references to the African American community in the state of Indiana Product of the Works Progress Administration Writers Project in the 1930's. Muncie, Indiana: H. Goodall, 2000.
Goodall, Hurley. Works Progress Administration Writers Project: Underground Railroad: The Invisible Road to Freedom Through Indiana. Indianapolis: DNR-DHPA, 2001.
Hamm, Thomas. The Anti-Slavery Movement in Henry County, Indiana: A Study of the Local Abolitionists. New Castle: Henry County Historical Society, 1975.
Lu, Marlene. Walkin' The Wabash: An Exploration into the Underground Railroad in West Central Indiana. Indianapolis: DNR-DHPA, 2001.
Olshausen, George. American Slavery and After. San Francisco: Olema Press, 1983.
Peters, Pamela R. The Underground Railroad in Floyd County, Indiana. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc, 2001.
Quinn, Angela M. The Underground Railroad and the Antislavery Movement in Fort Wayne and Allen County, Indiana. Indianapolis: DNR-DHPA, 2001.
Robbins, Coy. Indiana Negro Registers, 1852-1865. Bowie, Maryland: Heritage Books, 1994.
Thornbrough, Emma Lou. Indiana in the Civil War Era 1850-1880. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society, 1965 reprinted 1995.
Thornbrough, Emma Lou. The Negro in Indiana Before 1900. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Bureau, 1957.
Original slave narratives in their entirety
Documenting the American South (DAS) is a collection of sources on Southern history, literature and culture from the colonial period through the first decades of the 20th century. DAS documents the individual and collective story of the African American struggle for freedom and human rights in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries.
Excerpts from Slave Narratives
Contains excerpts from early travel narratives of Europeans to Africa and from slave narratives. Easy to use menu to choose which narrative to view.
Remembering Slavery: Those Who Survived Tell Their Stories
In the late 1930s and early 1940s, federal and private agencies sent interviewers across the South in an effort to document music and culture. Many of the interviews were documented on paper, but some interviewers were able to record the ex-slaves' voices. You hear the original recordings, plus dramatic readings of the written transcripts.
Africans in America: America's Journey through Slavery - Interactive for PBS Online
America's journey through slavery is presented in four parts, each with a historical narrative, resource book and teacher's guide.
Levi Coffin House
Site for the home of Indiana's most well-known conductor. Give history of the house, Coffin's work, and also an extensive links page.
National Geographic Online Presents: The Underground Railroad.
With a variety of styles and depths of coverage, the site is unique in its ability to make the experience of the Underground Railroad accessible to elementary, middle school, and beginning high school students. From an entry point for younger students, they choose their own adventure in "The Journey." "Routes to Freedom," with a map that can be enlarged and "Timeline" provide factual information for older students to investigate. The brief biographies in "Faces of Freedom" offer an access point for further research into the key players of the time. Young investigators can explore some of the best and most creative hiding spots used by travelers at "For Kids." "Classroom Ideas" offers a teacher suggestions for projects and activities.
The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center
The service's page focuses attention on our cultural heritage and history through historic landmarks. You will find an introduction, a map of routes, a list of railroad sites by state, and a links page that includes an extensive bibliography. The best part of this site is the list of states involved in the movement and the links to each site in those states. These pages include a brief history of the home, farm, or church involved, a photo, and information about whether the location is open to the public. Focuses on more than just Underground Railroad heritage.
Frederick Douglass
Information about Douglass, his life, and his home. Details his abolitionist work.
Beatty, Patricia. Who Comes with Cannons? New York: Morrow Junior Books, 1992.
Bentley, Judith. Dear Friend: Thomas Garrett and William Still, Collaborators on the Underground Railroad. New York: Cobblehill Books, 1997.
Bial, Raymond. The Strength of these Arms: Life in the Slave Quarters. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1997.
Bial, Raymond. The Underground Railroad. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1997.
Brill, Marlene Targ. Allen Jay and the Underground Railroad. Minneapolis: Carolrhoda Books, 1993.
Diouf, Sylviane A. Growing up in Slavery. The Millbrook Press. Brookfield, Conn, 2001.
Ducey, Jean. Out of this Nettle. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker book House, 1983.
Fradin, Dennis Brindell. My Family Shall be Free! The Life of Peter Still. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 2001.
Haskins, James. Get on Board. New York: Scholastic, 1993.
Jacob, Harriet. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl - Harriet Jacob. Ed. Yellin, Jean Fagan. 1987.
Kahman, Bobbie. A Slave Family. New York: Crabtree Publishing, 2002.
Lasky, Kathryn. True North: A Novel of the UGRR. New York: Blue Sky Press, 1996.
Latham, Frank. The Dred Scott Decision, March 6, 1857: Slavery and the Supreme Courts' Self Inflicted Wound. New York: Franklin Watts, Inc, 1968.
Levine, Ellen. If You Traveled On The UGRR. Scholastic, 1988.
Ludwig, Charles. Levi Coffin and the Underground Railroad. Scottdale, PA: Herald Press, 1975.
McGovern, Ann. Runaway Slave: The Story of Harriet Tubman. Scholastic Book Services, New York, 1965.
Meyer, Linda D. Harriet Tubman: They Called Me Moses. Parenting Press, 1988.
Miller, William. Frederick Douglass: The Last Days of Slavery. Lee & Low Books, 1995.
Monjo, F.N. The Drinking Gourd. Harper Collins, 1993.
Moore, Kay. If You Lived At The Time Of The Civil War. Scholastic, 1994.
Rappaport, Doreen. Freedom River. New York: Hyperion Books for Children, 2000.
Riggio, Anita. Secret Signs Along the Underground Railroad. Boyds Mills Press, 1997.
Sanders, Scott R. A Place Called Freedom. New York: Athenaeum Books for Young Readers, 1997.
Schroeder, Alan and Jerry Pinkney. Minty: A Story of Young Harriet Tubman. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers, 1996.
Stein, R. Conrad. The Story of the Underground Railroad. Chicago: Children's Press, 1981.
White, Anne Terry. North to Liberty: the Story of the Underground Railroad. Champaign, ILL: Garrard Publishing Co., 1972.
World Book Encyclopedia. "The Underground Railroad." World Book Encyclopedia, 1997.
Wyeth, Sharon Dennis. Freedom's Wings: Corey's Diary. Scholastic, Inc, New York 2001.
For Teachers
Altman, Linda Jacobs. Slavery and Abolition in America History. Berkeley Heights, NJ, Enslow Publishers, 1999.
Bentley, Judith. Harriet Tubman. New York: Franklin Watts, 1990.
Blockson, Charlers. "The Underground Railroad." National Geographic. July 1984.
Budda Records. The Long Road to Freedom: An Anthology of Black Music. Buddha Records, 2001.
Cox, Clinton. Fiery Vision: The Life and Death of John Brown. New York: Scholastic, 1997.
Fradin, Dennis B. Bound for the North Star: True Stories of Fugitive Slaves. New York: Clarion Books, 2000.
Gorrell, Gena. North Star to Freedom: The Story of the Underground Railroad. New York: Delacorte Press, 1997.
Kim and Reggie Harris Group. Music and the Underground Railroad. Philadelphia: Ascension Records, 1984.
Kallen, Stuart. Life on the Underground Railroad. San Diego: Lucent Books, 2000.
McKissack, Patricia and Frederick McKissack. Rebels Against Slavery: American Slave Revolts. New York: Scholastic, 1996. ADULT FICTION
Haley, Alex. Roots. New York: Doubleday, 1976.
Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Tom's Cabin. 1852.
ABC News. Journey to Africa: Revisiting the Slave Pens of Ghana. Princeton, NJ: Films for the Humanities and Sciences, 2002.
Bagwell, Orlando. Roots of Resistance: A Story of the Underground Railroad. Raja Productions Film for the American experience, 1990.
Bellows, Susan. Africans in America: America's Journey Through. 1998. Boston.
Haley, Alex. Roots. Warner Brothers Video. 2001.
Michaels, Susan. The Underground Railroad. Triage, Inc. for the History Channel. New York: A&E Network/The History Channel, 1999.
Paddor, Scott. Frederick Douglass. Greystone Communications, Inc. New York, NY: A&E Home Video 1999.


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How to Deal With the Office Debbie Downer
Small businesses are only as good as their employees. Have one bad apple and it can wreck the entire apple cart. But a small business owner doesn't have to let one morale-sapping employee infect the whole office. While the best action may ultimately be to fire the unhappy camper, there are some other things you can try before it gets to that to create workplace harmony.
"It can be hugely destructive to the company," if an employee is constantly negative, objects to everything and complains all the time, says Jeanne Yocum, founder of the blog Succeeding in Small Business. "This is particularly damaging in a workplace where you're trying to bring about organizational change or to pursue innovation in terms of your products or services."
According to management experts, the first place to start is to look within. Often times the morale sapper can actually be the boss or small business owner.
"In many instances what makes someone a successful entrepreneur can make them a bad manager," says Chuck Fried, president and chief executive of TxMQ Inc., a technology staffing company. There are tons of situations in small businesses where employees' bad attitudes are because of how the boss knowingly or unknowingly treated their workers, he says.
If it's not the business owner that's the problem the next step is to identify who the trouble maker is. An effective manager will already know this, but for many small business owners who are strapped for time, they may be out of touch with what's going on at the office. Having an open door policy and actually following it can prevent problems from escalating. And if there is someone bringing down morale, it's time to listen and figure out who it is.
"You've got to stay close to your people," says Fried. "The only way you will know is if you have a good relationship with the people so they are comfortable coming to you."
According to Mark Jaffe, president of executive search firm Wyatt & Jaffe, the first rule of management is understanding what motivates employees. Once you understand how to manage employees based on motivation you can identify the bad apple -- even if that person is a higher performer.
After identifying the morale sapper the business owner can then approach the person to find out what's driving the bad attitude. In some instances it could be a situation at home, unhappiness with a work assignment or something else going on in the person's life, while in other cases it could simply be the person's disposition. "You can correct skills but you can't correct personality traits and attitudes," says Fried. "That's what psychologists are for, it's not the role of the boss."
If the person's behavior has changed seemingly overnight, then it may be worth it to try and talk to the employee and see if you can get them help, says Yocum. Another option is to isolate the person. Encourage the person to work at home or move him or her to an area that is less populated with co-workers.
If all else fails, it may be time to consider firing the employee. While employers worry they may get sued for firing someone simply because he or she has a bad attitude, Jaffe says it's perfectly legal and within the rights of the business owner. You don't have to tell the employee he or she is getting canned because of a bad attitude but you can say it's due to organizational changes or a refocus of the business, says Jaffe.
"Most people now agree that if you have one person generating a lot of negative energy that infects the team, even a high performer, the popular wisdom is to fire them," says Jaffe.
Click here for more articles on "Protecting Your Small Business."